


Shout Out Loud

by newbatgirl



Series: Two of Us [3]
Category: Smallville
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-01
Updated: 2010-10-01
Packaged: 2017-10-12 08:39:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/123012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newbatgirl/pseuds/newbatgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU "Two of Us" Universe. Set days after the events of "Two of Us." Clark isn't so oblivious anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Adding Clark's POV to the mix for this one. We only have Oliver's POV in the first chapter to set things up, the rest is all Clark. Go easy on me, I have not written from Clark's POV in YEARS.

**Chapter One**

 _Metropolis...Clocktower...Early afternoon...  
_  
“Stop pouting,” she told him, pulling her shoe from underneath his bed.

“I'm a grown man, I don't pout.”

“You're a grown man who also dresses up in leather and jumps from rooftops at night. You're open to new ideas. And you're pouting.”

Oliver pressed his lips together and watched as Chloe's black lace panties disappeared beneath her jeans. OK, so he was pouting but who could blame him? Four days alone were over. Back to reality. The boys would be back from Germany soon and he and Chloe would need to learn to function around other people again. Without having their hands all over each other. 

“Watching you put on clothes, while nice, isn't nearly as fun as watching you take them off,” he said.

She smirked and pressed a kiss to his bare chest. “Ditto...but we have to get dressed. The guys will be here in an hour. They'd just landed when they called. I better order some food...they're probably starving...” 

She moved to step away, probably to look for a blouse and he couldn't have that just yet. He caught her arm in his hand and tugged her back. “Hey, come back here...you'll come home with me tonight?”

“Hmmmm...and wake up naked with you as opposed to waking up hearing Lois snooze her alarm clock for an hour and a half? Tough choice.” Chloe ran her small – and nimble, God were they nimble - hands across his chest and grinned at him.

“And I'll wake you up like I did today?” he teased. She had certainly seemed to enjoy walking up with him already between her thighs.

“Ooooh...is that promise?”

“Cross my heart.”

“I'm definitely coming home with you.”

He leaned to kiss her again and apparently got a little carried away because soon those nimble hands were pushing on his chest again.

“Watch it, Ollie. We're supposed to be getting dressed...”

He looked down and realized that that his own hands had started to push down her jeans again. Hmmm, how'd that happen? “Damn...Later then?”

“Later. Cross my heart.” She made an “x” on the smooth, pale skin just above her black-lace covered breasts and winked at him. Then she leaned over to slip on her shoes and Oliver had to cross the room to avoid grabbing for her again. Boundaries, time to relearn boundaries.

Pulling a shirt from his closet, he changed the subject. “So we're agreed. We're going to keep this between us for a few weeks?”

“Right, let's get used to it before we spring it on every one else. It's a big change and it's not like we can tell them the whole story.”

“You're right, I know you're right but...” 

“But what?”

“You don't think anyone is going to figure it out?”

“C'mon, it's not like they're going to be able to tell by looking at us.”

Oliver snorted. “You haven't looked in a mirror lately, have you?” 

Maybe he was a little biased – or a lot biased – but Chloe Sullivan looked exactly like she'd been having amazing sex for three straight days. The hair, the skin, even the way she moved. He liked seeing it but he wasn't sure he was ready for everyone – namely the other men on his team – to see it.

“What? Am I wearing an 'I had great sex' neon sign?” she asked, laughing at him.

Ahem. “Amazing sex,” he corrected.

“Yes, amazing sex. Mind-blowing sex...happy? But it's still not stamped on on foreheads. And since neither of us is going to literally shout it from the rooftops yet, they won't know until we tell them.”

Oliver didn't comment. He only nodded. They would just have to see.

Chloe seemed to sense his doubt. “What!?” she asked finally.

“You really should look in a mirror.”

 **End Chapter**.


	2. Chapter Two

_Metropolis...Watchtower...Early evening...  
_  
Clark pushed through the double doors cautiously and hesitated in the doorway. This wasn't a League meeting. In fact, it looked more like a party. When Chloe had texted him saying that most of the League was getting together for dinner, he'd promised that he'd be there. Since then he'd learned it was more of social gathering than an official team meeting and had almost begged off. 

However weeks ago Oliver had openly questioned his commitment to the team and he felt like he needed to show them that he was really dedicated to being part of this group, even when the world wasn't falling apart around them. So he came, even though he often felt like the odd man out in this little circle. 

He looked around. There was food on every available surface. Someone had put an iPod in the the dock and there was music playing. Bart and AC were in front of the big screen, engaged in some kind of PlayStation battle. They called out greetings to him without turning from the screen.

He spotted Oliver and Carter over by one of the large maps of Metropolis that lined the walls. They seemed to be talking League business but they both also had beers in their hands.

“Hey, Boy Scout!” Carter called.

“Want a beer, Clark?” Oliver asked.

Clark shook his head, “Maybe later, thanks.” 

Clark spotted Chloe on the couch talking to Victor, who was working on his laptop while talking to her. They were talking tech, Clark surmised given that he only understand about every eighth word. 

“Hey Chlo. Hey, Victor,” he said, sinking into the chair closest to the couch. 

Chloe looked up at him in surprise, green eyes sparkling and wide. “Clark, you came!” 

“I said I would.”

“Yeah, but that doesn't always mean you can come,” she said without any malice in her voice.

Clark felt his good mood dim a little. He thought about getting defensive but the he realized she was right. He took in the bright smile on her face and the way her legs were tucked under her on the couch. 

“Yeah, I guess but I was free this time. You're in a good mood,” he said to her.”What's up?”

Chloe looked startled for second. “What makes you think anything's up?”

“I don't know—-” Clark began, only to be cut off by AC and Bart shouting “THIRD BASE!” from across the room and high-fiving each other.

Victor groaned. 

Clark's eyes shifted between them. “What's that about?”

Chloe waved it off. “Long story, let's just say Victor earned his team leadership points in Germany,” she patted Victor's shoulder. “Nice job.”

“Thanks, Tower. And, I appreciate that Ollie had faith in me on this one but please – I begging you - do not let me out of the country with those two again without someone else to play referee if you want us all back in one piece.”

“I'll keep that in mind,” Chloe laughed.

Clark remembered something Lois had asked him to do, and thought it might be connected to Chloe's good mood.

“I guess your date went well?” he asked.

Chloe choked on the last of her beer. “What do you know about that?”

“Lois,” Clark replied with a shrug. “She asked me to ask you about it I saw you before she did.”

“Why would she do that, she and I live in the same apartment?”

“She says you never see each other. She's always working and you're always...here. And she was right, I did see you before she did. So how was your date?” he repeated, curious both for himself and Lois. Chloe dating again was a good sign, right?

“Date?” Victor inquired, smiling. Chloe shot a glare at Clark that made him almost regret bringing it up in front of other people. Oops. How was he supposed to know that she hadn't told the guys?

“You had a date, Tower? Who with?”

“Lucy's history professor,” Clark replied without thinking. One look at Chloe's face confirmed that he'd done it again.

“You're dating Lucy's history professor? Is that allowed?” Victor wanted to know.

“Yes it is, and no I'm not. God, Clark, a little discretion, please? You're spending too much time with Lois. She's rubbing off on you.”

AC stopped playing the game long enough to grab a slice of pizza from the box on the coffee table in front of them.

“What's this about you doing Lucy's history professor?”

Bart dropped his game controller. “What?!!!”

Chloe covered her face with her hands. “Oh God!”

When she looked up, Clark shot her a look he hoped was apologetic. “Sorry, Lois just said you had a date and asked me to ask you about it. She said he taught history at Lucy's school.”

“Why are you guys talking about my personal life anyway? Don't you have work things to talk about? Like real news?”

“Stop dodging the question. Tell us about your date,” Victor set his laptop aside and moved closer. AC and Bart paused their game and flopped onto the floor in front of them expectantly.

“You guys are awful!” Chloe wailed.

When none of them moved, she sagged. “If you must know - and apparently you must – I am not dating Lucy's history professor. He asked me out. I accepted but I had to cancel. End of story.”

Clark looked at the other three men, they didn't look satisfied with that answer and he knew Lois wouldn't be.

“Why'd you cancel?” Clark asked

“Do you think he's going to call you again?” Victor asked.

“Why don't  _you_ call him and ask him out this time?” AC suggested.

“Is he taller than me?” Bart asked.

Chloe drilled them individually with her eyes. “None of your business, No, I don't want to, and Yes, he is,” she said crossly. “And I'm done talking about it.” 

They were interrupted by Oliver moving into the room, stretching his long frame around the coffee table to settle next to Chloe on the couch.

He handed her a fresh beer and smirked at the other men. “Alright, guys, stop teasing Tower. If she doesn't want to date this guy, she doesn't need you guys interrogating her about it. Apologize.”

Bart, AC, and Victor each murmured a half-hearted “Sorry.”

“Besides, the guy could have been a serial killer for all we know. She did the right thing,” Oliver added and was too slow to dodge the hand Chloe shoved at his ribs. “Owww!”

“Stop being an ass!” she warned, but Clark noted that she didn't seem nearly as angry with Oliver as she had been with the others. She was smiling at him, and holding his gaze. 

Clark frowned. If he had implied what Oliver had just done about her taste in men, he'd be looking at the business end of a Chloe Sullivan hissy-fit for sure. Oliver seemed to get away with quite a bit where Chloe was concerned, without needing to apologize. That didn't seem fair. 

AC and Bart laughed and went back to their game. Victor opened his laptop again. Carter joined them, sitting on the chair opposite Clark.

Soon the were all talking about the recently completed mission in Germany, the data Victor had been able to salvage, and what it meant for identifying future Luthor Corp. targets. 

This is where Clark felt most at a loss with the team. The rest of them worked more closely together on mission planning and strategy whereas he always seemed to come in at the end of things, or when things went wrong. He always felt like he was five steps behind everyone else, needing someone to explain things and bring him up to speed.

It was not a feeling he enjoyed. He wondered how he could change that. 

Clark shifted his gaze to Oliver. Maybe Oliver was right. Spending more time with the League might be good for him. It's not like he had a long list of friends he could be himself with. And he might feel like less of an outsider.

Then he noticed that Oliver had stretched his free arm across the back of the sofa, behind Chloe, with his hand grazing the ends of her hair. Chloe didn't seem to have noticed or if she had, she didn't mind. 

That was odd. Chloe had been very into personal space for the past couple of years, especially since she'd learned more about her powers. 

Clark looked at Chloe. She was still seated with her legs tucked under her, but she'd shifted when Oliver sat down and her body was turned towards him, though she was talking mostly to Carter and Victor. Her left knee was pressed next to Oliver's right leg. She held her beer in her right hand and rested her left one on her leg, where her fingers grazed Oliver's thigh.

Huh. What was that about?

For the next half hour, Clark contributed little to the target selection discussion, instead spending that time observing the interaction between Chloe and Oliver and occasionally looking at the others to see if they noticed anything different about the pair. Bart and AC drifted in and out of the discussion while taking breaks in their game for food. Carter and Victor seemed occupied with the discussion at hand. 

But then when Chloe got up to take answer a phone call from Dinah, she briefly pressed her hand to Oliver's knee to push herself up. After the phone call ended, she was back on the couch next to him, her position virtually unchanged.

Had she always sat to close to Oliver during meetings? Had she always looked at him like that when making a point? Had she always let him steal food from her plate while they were eating? Bart had done that to her once and had almost lost a finger. 

At one point, Clark shook his head, trying to convince himself that he was imagining things. If no one else noticed, maybe there wasn't anything to see. Chloe was close to all of the guys in the League. These were her brothers. She'd said that more than once. Wasn't she like this with all of them to some extent?

The way she was currently leaning over Victor's shoulder to view something on the laptop was an example. Then Clark sat up straighter in his chair as Chloe froze and her face went ashen.

“Shoot, Chloe---” Victor said, fingers flying over the keyboard. “I didn't know those were there. I'll delete them.”

Chloe's eyes were still on the laptop. “ _These_ were on the German server?” she whispered.

Victor nodded. “I didn't know, I just dumped the files, I didn't get a chance to sort them...I'm sorry---” he trailed off but Chloe was off the couch already, heading to her office.

Oliver leaned forward to look at the laptop. After one glance he too was off the couch. Over his shoulder he said, “Vic, I want those files gone.”

“Doing it now, Boss.” 

Clark watched Oliver disappear through the door that Chloe had gone through, then turned to Victor. “What's going on?” AC and Bart had dropped their game controllers and were standing nearby, watching the exchange with interest.

“Video files, photo files, and a whole lot of other crap. Of Chloe, when she was in one of Lex's facilities. Lex makes back-ups of everything he does. Every once and a while when we take a server, we find more copies of those files. He's got copies everywhere. I usually scan everything before she looks at them just in case but I must have forgotten this time and now she's seen them. It's my fault, I fucked up.”

“Dude, it's not your fault.” Bart told him. “She's not mad at you. This is about Luthor.”

“Yeah, well she should be. And Ollie's pissed.”

Carter shook his head. “Oliver 's not pissed at you, believe me. Relax. Just delete the files. That's what he's concerned about.”

Victor nodded.

Clark started towards the office where Oliver and Chloe had retreated but Bart caught his arm. “Not a good idea, Stretch.”

“Why not? She's upset--”

“Just...let Ollie handle this one.”

Clark felt indignation building in his chest. Let Oliver handle this one? He and Chloe had been friends since they were fifteen for God's sake!

Without stopping to consider whether he should, Clark fixed his gaze on the door to the office letting his X-Ray vision tear away the barriers. 

He watched as Oliver leaned against one of the workstations and pulled Chloe towards him, wrapping his arms around her. He pressed his forehead against hers and ran a hand over her hair. They weren't even speaking, which Clark found odd at first. Until he realized, with a sinking sensation in his own stomach, that they didn't need to talk. Chloe's body relaxed into Oliver's and she rested her hands at his waist. Then she nodded in response to some question that Oliver hadn't even asked. At least not out loud. 

And Clark knew what Bart meant when he said Oliver would handle it. He knew everything he needed to know. 

It was all right there. 

Quiet and loud at the same time.

Clark pulled back from his X-Ray view and turned back to the others without saying a word. On his way back to his chair, he grabbed a beer from the table. 

Bart and AC did not return to their game.

Instead they sat on the floor near the coffee table and picked at the food. Not really eating.

The only sounds in the room were the clicking of the keys on Victor's laptop. 

Chloe and Oliver emerged from the office a few minutes later. Clark noted that she looked calm, not as happy as she had been before but calm. Oliver's face was harder to read. His hands were stuffed in the back pockets of his jeans. He wordlessly nudged Bart and looked pointedly at the food crumbs the younger man had dropped on the floor. 

Chloe sank into the couch next to Victor and smiled at him, rubbing his forearm briefly. And Clark knew her well enough to understand that she was telling him that she was not upset with him.

Carter cleared his throat. “Back to the matter at hand...what do you guys think of the Canadian locations as targets?”

The meeting resumed and they finished ranking their targets over the next half hour. When they were done, Chloe and Victor disappeared into the office to work while Oliver asked Bart and AC to help him clean up the mess in the sitting room. 

Clark walked over to Oliver. “I gotta go. Can you...tell Chloe I'll call her tomorrow?”

Oliver nodded. “I will. Goodnight, Clark.”

Clark waited for Oliver to say something else. Explain...something. When he didn't, Clark turned and nodded his goodbye to the other guys and left.  He felt empty and, even angry for some reason. And he didn't know why. 

He was already on the street when he heard someone calling his name. He turned. 

It was Carter. The larger man jogged briefly to catch up with him. When he did, he hesitated before speaking. “You alright, Boy Scout?”

Clark felt like telling him that no, he wasn't but instead he nodded. “Fine.”

“Sure you are. That's why you look like you're going to punch something. And given that you punch like a tank, I'd prefer that it not happen right now. So talk.”

“This doesn't involve you, Carter. Leave it alone.”

“Oh, it involves me, because I'm on this team too. And it involves me because right now, I'm the only one around here who knows what you're pissed at.”

Clark stopped walking and turned on Carter. “I love it how everyone always knows what my problem is before I do. You're so sure you know what I'm thinking, even though you don't know me at all. So tell me, Carter, what am I thinking?”

“You're mad because she's not yours anymore. You claim you don't want her yet you're pissed that someone else does.”

“That's not true. Chloe---” Clark stopped speaking when he realized what Carter had said. “So, it's true? They're together? He told you?”

“Oliver doesn't tell me much but I 'm not an idiot and I'm not blind. He's been waiting for her a while. It's not one-sided, either. I don't know if anything's going on now but it's only a matter of time. And I'm guessing you finally saw it today?”

Clark nodded. “It's not a good idea.  _They_  are not a good idea.”

“Says you. Everyone else is going to be fine with it.”

“How do you know that?” Clark asked, incredulous. “You said nobody else knew.”

"Nobody knows  _for sure_ , Clark. That doesn't mean that they don't have opinions. And yours is the only dissenting one. Wonder why that is?”

Clark felt his defenses rising again. “Stop trying to psychoanalyze me. Chloe and I have been friends for over ten years. Don't you think I know her better than you do? Better than Oliver?” 

Then Carter did something unexpected. He laughed. Out loud.

“Really? You think you know her better than we do? Than how come it took you until today to notice what we all saw months ago?”

“Months?” 

“Months,” Carter repeated. “Look, you want to be a friend? Then treat her like one. Treat  _him_ like one. They've done that for you. It's time you returned the favor.”

Clark's jaw clenched as his mind replayed the image of Oliver comforting Chloe in her office. Something  _he_ should have been doing. He didn't want to be with Chloe in that way but he still felt like he should be the one taking care of her. Not Oliver.

“I still think this is a bad idea.”

Carter shrugged. “You're entitled to your opinion, it just doesn't mean anything right now. You may be able to lift buildings and stop trains, Clark, but you're not going to change this. It's not about you. Not anymore.”

Clark was lost in his thoughts and he didn't even notice when Carter left or how he left. He just suddenly found himself on the dark Metropolis avenue. Alone with his thoughts.

Carter was right. Clark loved his best friend. He loved her a lot. Enough to be selfish about sharing her. 

But apparently he didn't love her the way she wanted to be loved. And he'd have to get used to the fact that someone else did.

 **End.**


End file.
